The 'hsing-ssu' mode in Six Dynasties poetry: Changing approaches to imagistic language

Chinese poetic history witnessed a gradual development from direct utterance to mediated expression. The increasing importance of imagistic description in poetry provides a clue to discovering fundamental changes of Chinese poetic sensitivity. Theoretical discussions of the complementary relationship between the poet's inner state (ch'ing) and his description of external reality (ching) appeared rather late, starting in critical writings of the Sung Dynasty. Although T'ang poetry is usually praised for achieving a seamless fusion of the two elements, it is clear that the evolution toward this ideal began in the poetry of the Six Dynasties.;In this study, I regard Chang Hsieh (fl.295), Hsieh Ling-yun (385-433), Yen Yen-chih (384-456), and Pao Chao (414-466) as representing important stages in the development of the hsing-ssu mode. Chang Hsieh, who lived almost a century before the other three poets, already shows an aesthetic attitude in describing natural scenes. Hsieh Ling-yun, the famous genius of landscape poetry, achieves the most powerful expression with the hsing-ssu technique. While Yen Yen-chih's imagistic description is often limited to that of ornate surfaces, Pao Chao ventures into the presentation of a more intimate scenery and individual sensual objects.;Late Six Dynasties poetry continues to be concerned with linguistic experimentation and sensual poetic objects. While excessive indulgence in formal beauty evoked severe criticism, the more compact, intense expression achieved in this period evinces an affinity with later poetic aesthetics. It is in this sense that I propose this study to understand the nature and significance of Six Dynasties poetry in the context of the Chinese poetic tradition.;The most distinctive experiment in this process is perhaps the so-called hsing-ssu (formal likeness) trend, which strives for rendering impressions of the concrete, objective world in meticulously crafted verbal structures. This interest in depicting the outside world and in linguistic exploration defines the general tendency of Six Dynasties poetry.